I was thinking about how I missed having an indoor thermometer that measures humidity. It’s such a small specific thing, one I’d never think of getting unless pushed to it (which I was by one particularly dry winter). But I like having one now.

What are your small, “random” or “junk drawer” type of gadgets that you actually use or like having around?

    • @[email protected]
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      106 months ago

      Indeed, being Belgian and an adept of the real French fries (double cooked) I was not convinced at all. In the end, I still prefer real fries but I find the air fryer very practical to cook (or warm up quickly - unlike microwave oven it does not make stuff soft) all sort of food.

      • @[email protected]
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        46 months ago

        I’m an American, so I can’t say how they’re cooked in Belgium, but I can say that boiling them in water for ten minutes before frying reduces the workload significantly and produces similar results.

        • @[email protected]
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          56 months ago

          Belgian fries (and any good fries in America) are fried once in low heat for a little while to cook the potato through. Then they are allowed to cool, and they can be frozen to use later, or you can fry them again at higher temp to crisp them up.

          • @[email protected]
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            26 months ago

            I’m aware of the double-fry technique, I’m just saying that similar results can be obtained by boiling in lieu of the first frying step

    • @[email protected]
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      76 months ago

      Small electric fan oven doesn’t sound as magical as air fryer. Good product, great marketing.

    • @[email protected]
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      56 months ago

      I was gifted an air fryer a while back. While it’s generally useful, cleaning if after each use is really obnoxious imo and so I hardly ever use it.

      It’s a lot easier to clean a pan I used in the oven because I can just pop it in the dishwasher. I can’t pop the air fryer in the dishwasher. It would destroy it.

      • edric
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        66 months ago

        You can buy air fryer liners to minimize cleanup.

        • @[email protected]
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          26 months ago

          I recently found out about these and they have been a huge help, but I found that food still manages to make it’s way into the rest of the basket, even if it’s not as much.

        • @[email protected]
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          26 months ago

          Thank you for this knowledge. This will honestly help me eat more chicken instead of less-messy frozen meals.

        • @[email protected]
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          26 months ago

          Mine came with a little pan or tray that we can line with foil easy peasy. Much less to clean.

      • @[email protected]
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        36 months ago

        My kitchen has a solid ban on any product with the word “maker” in the name. They’re all junk that take up space and do a worse job than conventional methods.

        An air fryer though. That was money well spent.